This week on the blog, we get a brief view of the work of Danish photographer Mikkel Beiter, a self-taught artist who spends his time between Africa and Island to take gorgeous landscape pictures.

Let's discover Mikkel's interview and photographs in 19 photos in full resolution!




A few words about you, how did you start photography?

My name is Mikkel, and I am 31 years old living in Copenhagen, Denmark, for the past nine years. I work full time as an IT Coordinator in a fast-growing Danish company specialized in pastries.





I picked up my first DSLR camera back in the 00'es, I think to be exact it was 2007. My first camera was a Canon EOS 1000d which I used for jobs in the Danish nightlife, taking photos of people partying around in the nightclubs of Copenhagen. I did this a year or two during the weekends while studying to become an IT Technician. After a while, I lost interest in partying and taking pictures, so I put it aside completely for some years.

In 2013, I decided to volunteer on an environmental project out in the bush in Botswana where I stayed for 2 months and I brought my camera for this trip, at this time I had a Canon EOS 7d. I took a lot of wildlife and random landscape photos, nothing good, but my interest in nature photography got a push.





In 2016 I went to Lofoten in Northern Norway with my little brother and my father. For this trip I had researched a lot about landscape photography, how to do long exposures, plan for the light on locations, using filters and so on. So the goal for this trip was to visit the area and come back with some beautiful landscape photos, but it created a fire inside me and I have been in love with landscape photography ever since!

Did you try other photography styles? Or landscape photography has always been your favorite one?

I have tried nightlife photography and I do wildlife photography from time to time, but landscape photography is what I like the most and I don't expect this to change.





What was your favorite trip? Is there a place in the world you dream to photograph?

I love Lofoten in Norway, I've been there 4 times so far and this winter will be the 5th. My real interest for landscape photography started in Lofoten back in 2016, so it has a special place in my heart!

Last year, I did a 3 weeks trip to Namibia with my Norwegian friend Roy. I think this is one of my favorite trips so far! A lot of fun, exploring the bumpy gravel roads! Namibia is just a dream location as a landscape photographer.





December 2017 was quite exciting as well, during a trip to Iceland in December with a friend we got caught up in a harsh snowstorm trapping us for 24 hours. We were caught at a parking lot in the northeastern part of Iceland at Selfoss. The Icelandic police had to send the rescue team to get us out!

Finally, I dream of visiting the southern island of New Zealand again - this time with my camera!





Are you inspired by the work of other photographers or directors, artists?

Well, I guess everyone has some source for inspiration when they start out with photography. Elia Locardi has inspired me a lot during the first years - I watched some of his tutorials he did together with Fstoppers.com. I think I have established my own style now, and I feel comfortable with my work process.

I do keep an eye on guys like Ryan Dyar, Nick Page, Stian Klo, Felix Inden, Ted Gore and Thomas Heaton. I was co-leading a workshop together with Ted Gore in Lofoten back in February, he is such a great guy, and I actually learned a thing or two from his workflow.





Read on: Spending hours in nature to become a better photographer, an interview with Philip Slotte and Nadir Bucan documents hardship and beauty in the face of nature’s unaltered presence

About your photography gears, what are your favorite tools?

I absolutely love my Canon 5d Mark IV together with the brilliant Canon EF 16-35 f/2.8 III lens. This is what I use most of the time. I often use filters for my landscape photography as well, I've tried a couple of brands, but I have settled with NiSi which I'm really happy with, fantastic products, top-notch systems and filters.

Besides my favorite lens, I own the new Tamron 24-70 f/2.8 lens and the telelens Canon EF 100-400 f/5.6 II. I won two first prizes at Sony World Photography Award back in 2017, so I own a Sony a7 III as well. It works as my secondary camera together with a Metabone adapter.





Do you have projects for the future like workshops, personal series or travels?

This Friday I actually travel to Iceland together with my German friend Kai Hornung, it will be my 4th time visiting, and this time during Summer. I've only seen Iceland during Autumn and Winter so far, so I'm looking forward to the long and bright summer days!

Next stop is in 10 days in Portugal with my girlfriend. This is mainly holiday but I'll bring my gear and capture a few photos from either Lisbon or the Algarve coast. I get some lenses from Sony Nordic for this trip, so it will be a Sony gear only experience - which is quite new for me. I don't use my Sony camera a lot :-)





Lofoten is on the plan for February 2020, I just bought the flight tickets but haven't made any plans yet.

Finally, two weeks in the USA together with Kai Hornung again, my friend Mads Peter Iversen and Daniel Laan. This will probably around May 2020.





To see more from Mikkel:

His Website
Instagram
Facebook

All photographs copyright Mikkel Beiter and used with his permission.

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